SLA bans transport across Kinniyadi lagoon

[TamilNet, Saturday, 03 January 1998, 23:59 GMT]
The SLA banned transport across the Kinniyadi lagoon from January 1, after the Liberation Tigers took away some supplies which were sent from the Meeraodai SLA to the Kinniyadi SLA camp, said sources in Batticaloa.

Kinniyadi is a village near Valaichenai town 30 km north of Batticaloa.

The Army's supplies were being transported by two children on new year's day when the LTTE confiscated them. Following this incident some youth from Kinniyadi were assaulted by the military in retaliation.

A complaint about this has been lodged with the MP of the area, K. Thurarjasingham (TULF), said residents.

The Officer in Charge (OIC) of the Kinniyadi camp assembled the villagers of the area later in the day and told them to retrieve the goods that were confiscated by the LTTE.

Tamil children living near SLA camps are used daily by the army to run errands, shop and transport goods to other SLA positions nearby.

The total ban on transport across the Kinniyadi lagoon has put farmers in the area who have their paddy fields in the hinterland in considerable difficulty.

Meanwhile, shrapnel from a shell fired by SLA soldiers during a training session pierced a Buddhist priest's head in the Kalkudah army camp, three kilometers east Valaichenai.

The Bikkhu was chanting Pirith among officers and soldiers for the new year at the camp. The priest, who had come from Colombo, was sent to Valaichenai hospital for surgery.